1. Lay Off The Coffee

And in a way you’re right, this does sound counter-intuitive. After all, how can you work if you’re unable to focus or, even worse, you’re still half asleep?

But if a guy who’s nursed a 6-a-day habit (strong, black, no sugar please!) for the last ten years tells you this works, there must be at least something to it.

Right?

Well, hear me out.

The thing is this.

Coffee does boost your energy levels and help you focus more. And since we tend to associate focus and energy with productivity, we assume coffee will do the trick and help us get work done.

Creativity, however, isn’t just about being productive. It’s about the ability to link ideas and concepts in ways that were previously unthought of. And – you guessed it – your mind is better at making these connections when it’s unfocused.

In fact, there’s a case to be made that focus is downright bad for creativity. Which kind of explains why you always seem to get your best ideas in the shower, or when you’re just about to drift off to sleep.

Well, at least that’s what happens to me.

But let’s not get bogged down in scientific mumbo jumbo. Just try it for yourself. Call it an experiment.

I know it’s worked for me. In the month or so I’ve switched from coffee to to herbal tea, I’ve started banging out copy in half the time.

Worth a shot, don’t you think?

2. Work In Short Bursts

I must confess I was really sceptical about this at first, but it really works.

Cirillo found that the brain works in cycles, which means you can only concentrate for so long. His solution was to break up a task into sections, which you work on in short bursts.

According to his Pomodoro Technique, you should work uninterruptedly for 25 minutes and then take a five minute break.

Personally, I find 25 minutes to be a bit too short, so I use a variation of the technique which I learned here.

This version works like this:

50 minutes of work

10 minute break

50 minutes of work

30 minute break

Rinse and repeat

The second time round, though, I finish with an hour-long break. This gives me time to cook some lunch, clean up (yeah I’m sort of a neat freak) and go for a walk in the park before it’s time to get down to business again.

Which brings me to my third point.

3. Get Out Of The House

When I first started working as a freelance writer full time, I was filled with romantic images of working from a café whilst sipping my regular black americano and stuffing my face with cookies.

Little did I know. Ha!

First, it was the weather.

I’d wake up in the morning only to get discouraged from going out as soon as I looked out the window. (I live in London, where the Sun is wont to make itself scarce.)

Then, I got busy. It became harder to justify the 30 minute walk to and from my favourite café when I could jump right into it as soon as I got out of bed.

Finally, I got comfortable.

Why go out when I can stay home in my pyjamas, drink as much coffee as I want and hang out with my awesome cat?

Well, that did work out for a while, but soon I started to get cabin fever. As you can imagine, this put a damper both on my motivation and my productivity.

Nowadays, I make it a point to go out for a walk in the park every day, rain or shine. I also try and work out of a café at least once a week.

Try it. It’s incredible what a simple change of scenery does to your productivity. And your sanity.

4. Stop Trying To Be Perfect

I’ve never considered myself a perfectionist. Quite far from it, actually.

I feel like I was reading one of my own posts hahaha. I totally agree on nearly everything. I actually love waking up with a cup of matcha and having coffee in the afternoon for my second half of the work day as a treat. Just one, and I really look forward to it.

And #5…oh man I had one of those yesterday. I get so upset about it but sometimes I think hey, you know what, if my brain is really this opposed to working right now maybe it’s trying to tell me something. So I just gave it up all day yesterday and read/watched True Detective. No regrets.

Wow, all great advice! And , yes, my best ideas come to me in the shower as well! I’m scared of laying off the coffee though…I only drink 2 cups usually so that’s not bad, right? I totally 100% agree with everything else! A change of scenery works wonders for me and I have to give myself breaks or I will go insane!